Raising SarahJane
by bananafangirl
Summary: Billy never really wanted children. Apparently, Teddy did. And SarahJane just sort of...happened. It's one of the few things he'll never regret. NOT A MPREG. First chapter redone.
1. How It Happened

Billy was the oldest of three children and, as such, had spent his fair share of time taking care of his younger siblings throughout his childhood. He'd come away from that experience with the distinct impression that children were enough to drive anyone insane, no idea how his parents had raised the three of them without offing themselves, and less than no desire to have children of his own someday.

That was why, when Teddy had asked several months ago if he ever wanted children, Billy's answer had been a firm, "No." The disappointment on his boyfriend's face hadn't even really registered in Billy's mind at the time; it had seemed like a simple offhand question, not an idea that would turn out to stick for months.

"We could adopt, you know," Teddy said one day, several weeks after the first time he had brought the subject up. Billy sighed, lowering the book he had been reading so that he could raise an eyebrow at his boyfriend. "I mean, we obviously can't _have_ kids." Billy chose to ignore the opportunity to point out that, thanks to Teddy's alien heritage, they probably actually could. That was just too creepy an idea. "But, I'd like some…someday."

"Maybe someday," Billy had murmured, before returning his attention to _The Fellowship of the Ring_. He'd thought that would be the end of it. And it was, for awhile.

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The next time the subject came up it wasn't Teddy, but instead Mrs. Kaplan who brought up the idea of adoption with, "So, when am I going to be getting grandbabies out of you two?"

Billy choked on the rice he had been eating, and Teddy pounded him on the back while laughing along with the Kaplans. "We were actually talking about that last week."

"You were talking about it," Billy interrupted, shooting his boyfriend a glare and kicking him under the table.

"You weren't disagreeing with me," A smug smile crossed Teddy's face before he turned back to Mrs. Kaplan.

"I said maybe someday," he argued weakly.

Rebecca Kaplan was grinning at the pair of them from across the dinner table. "Someday sooner rather than later, I hope?"

"Well, I…" Billy got the distinct feeling that this wasn't an argument he wanted to start, because he wasn't going to win. Both his boyfriend and his mother were smiling and exchanging conspiratorial glances across the table. He looked over at his father for help, but the older man just shrugged slightly apologetically and continued eating. "…wasn't really thinking anytime soon?"

"Billy," his mother sighed, in that way only mothers could. Making him feel as though he had done something incredibly wrong even when he knew he hadn't. "You don't have forever, you know, dear."

"We're twenty-three!" He protested, frowning at her. "There's plenty of time left to think about kids, especially since we don't have to actually have them."

"And who's to say that either of you will come home from your next mission for the Avengers?" That was definitely _not_ the argument she should have used.

"That's exactly why bringing kids into our lives is a bad idea." It was a logical argument. Billy didn't see the point in adopting children they might not be around to care for.

"That's exactly why you don't have time to put it off with 'someday's and 'maybe's," Rebecca argued, glaring at her son.

"She's right, Billy."

"No, _I'm_ right," Billy snapped at his boyfriend, "Do you seriously want to adopt a kid and then die and have it put right back in the system?" He stood, pushing back his chair so hard it fell over, and left the room in a way that wasn't _quite_ storming out in a temper like he had when he was a child.

Before the door swung closed behind him Billy could hear the low murmur of conversation turning towards why he was so against the idea of children. As if he hadn't just told them his exact reason.

It had been a long time since Billy last stomped out of the kitchen in a huff, but he followed old paths and ended up sitting on the roof outside his window, knees drawn up to his chest. He was feeling guilty by then, chastising himself for not being more patient.

When the window slid open again only minutes after he had closed it behind himself, Billy didn't move. He knew who it was already. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

A large hand settled on his shoulder as Teddy climbed out onto the roof beside him. "You've got nothing to be sorry for."

Billy glanced at his boyfriend out of the corner of his eyes and was pleased to see that he didn't look angry. He did, however, look a little bit disappointed. "I don't see why you want kids so much," he said, after several minutes of comfortable silence.

"I don't see why you don't," Teddy countered, eyes fixed on the horizon to avoid showing the disappointment in them.

"Do you think that we could really manage to raise a kid with the way we live?" He wanted to know, even if he wasn't sure he would like the answer.

"Without totally fucking it up?" Teddy asked, and Billy nodded even though it hadn't been a serious question. "I'm not sure. But I'd like to have the chance to try."

That was how, some months later and after far too many long discussions and even more arguments, Billy ended up agreeing that maybe adopting wasn't such a bad idea after all.

It was two years before anything came of the idea. Between the Avengers and trying to keep up some semblance of a normal life any thought of children slipped their minds. Then things went wrong down on the West Coast and several newly trained heroes died, one of whom was a mother.

The child was two years old and had already proven itself to be a mutant, apparently. By healing a broken neck before its startled mother's eyes after crawling off the top of a flight of concrete stairs, and performing the same healing feats under tests. That was why S.H.I.E.L.D. got involved rather than simply letting the child go into foster care.

When Tony Stark made it clear that if a registered hero didn't step up for the job of taking care of the child it would be put into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Billy really couldn't say no.


	2. Chapter 2

Teddy was awoken for the fifth night in a row by crying. He sat up in bed, looking around frantically for the source, before remembering who exactly was occupying the next room. A groaned curse from beside him and the bed shifted as Billy rolled to his feet. "I'll be right back," was all his boyfriend said before disappearing from the room. It went unspoken that when Billy returned it would be with a two year old in tow.

He wasn't sure if it was nightmares (he wasn't sure if two year olds _had_ nightmares, which showed exactly how much he knew about small children) but the child screaming in the next room had woken up that way every night for the past week, with no obvious causes, and nothing much could be done to placate her. "This is going to drive me insane," Billy said as he stepped back through the door, though his tone was sickly sweet to keep from disturbing the toddler in his arms any further.

"I'll take her and go sleep on the couch, if you want." Teddy was already standing, arms held out expectantly, when he made the offer. He knew it had been a long day for Billy (it had been a long day for him as well, but his long day had involved chasing a toddler around a park and Billy's had involved chasing a supervillain around New York City) and it was showing in the biting hint of impatience in his tone as he whispered sweet nonsense to the little girl in his arms.

The relief on Billy's face was visible even through the dark as he passed the child off and moved back to the bed. "I'm sorry."

"I was the one who wanted kids," Teddy sighed, hugging the crying toddler close as he slipped from the bedroom and into the pitch black hallway. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" He murmured, though he could hazard a guess. He wondered if she understood the concept of death, or had realized that her mother was never coming back and these strange men were here to stay, or if she was still just wondering why her mother had never picked her up from daycare. Anyway he looked at it, she was just a lonely and confused child surrounded by strangers.

He settled on the couch and flicked on the television to keep him company, muting it while he bounced the child on his knee. They had discovered during her first day with them that she liked to watch the television but hated the noise. When the television failed Teddy glanced around the room for something else to distract the child. The screaming was starting to give him a headache and he was sure it could still be heard in the bedroom.

There was a picture on the coffee table that drew his gaze on a second sweep of the room, having been passed over the first time. It was of a striking woman with wide, sparkling blue eyes. She was smiling down at a bundle in her arms, literally glowing with happiness. Her name was Jennifer Samson and the bundle in her arms was the child currently perched in his lap, last name now legally Kaplan. Without really thinking it over he picked up the frame, holding it in front of the child. "Is that who you're looking for, SarahJane?"

The screaming stopped. A tiny finger tapped the glass, "Momma." It was the first word Teddy could remember hearing her say all week.

"Yep," he sighed, tears pricking his eyes at the hopeful tone of her voice. "Sorry kiddo." SarahJane nodded soberly, glancing back at him with eyes the exact shade of the woman in the picture. She touched his cheek gently, frowning when her fingers came away slightly damp. Teddy blinked away the rest of the tears and smiled to avoid setting her off again. "Think you can sleep now?"

SarahJane shook her head, but didn't protest when Teddy lay back on the couch, taking her with him. She did keep a firm hold of the picture frame, whining pathetically when he attempted to take it from her hands.

**-Shadow-Master-Spellcaster-: There's a certain creepy factor to them having kids that way that I would very much like to avoid. And so would my Billy muse.**


	3. Chapter 3

Three months. Billy was still having trouble adjusting, even after three months.

It should have been easy. He had two little brothers; he'd grown up in the same house with wild and noisy children. In all honesty, he should be the better parent. That didn't explain why Teddy was still the one up in the middle of the night to ease nightmares, why Teddy was the one who fed her and washed her and stayed home with her unless the Avengers absolutely could not do without him.

That didn't explain why he was sitting on a park bench watching as Teddy chased SarahJane around the playground, feeling like an outsider in his own life. He couldn't remember a recent time when his boyfriend had looked happier, but he wasn't a part of that happiness. That happiness all centered around a little girl currently being pushed on a swing, head thrown back and laughing, a joyful sound only a child could make.

He didn't know what the problem was. He _liked_ kids. He liked SarahJane, for all that she still woke them in the middle of every night crying for a mother that was never coming (a mother that she wouldn't remember, soon enough) and scattered toys across the living room that he tripped on in the dark, and refused to take naps. She was a pain in the ass, but he liked her. The problem was, he didn't love her.

He wanted her to be safe and happy, but he couldn't imagine the rest of his life taking care of her. He couldn't picture five years, ten years, twenty years in the future and see the three of them, a happy little family.

But he saw how happy Teddy was and he knew he would try, anyways. Things like this took longer than three months. And they took an effort he hadn't been making.

So he stood from the park bench and crossed to the playground, scooping a giggling SarahJane up with ease and listening to her babble about the game she and Teddy were playing. She turned a brilliant smile on him, and he realized that it was tugging at his heart a little bit more everyday.

Things like this took time, and he could learn why Teddy loved her so much.

**This was not originally intended to be the third chapter. It's just something I wrote randomly this afternoon in an attempt to get out how Billy was feeling about this whole thing and I like it, even if it is insanely short.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I have been SO uninspired and this just kind of came to me today so...it's a bit of crap but whatever.**

The first time Billy ever really felt like a _parent_ was when SarahJane got damn close to killing herself for the first time. At least, the first time while she was with them.

She tripped running down the stairs in their apartment building, fell head over heels down half the flight, and cracked her head open at the bottom. There were a few seconds there where Billy couldn't _think_, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't feel. All he could do was stare at the too-still too-quiet little girl at the bottom of the stairs, that no magic in the world could help.

And then she stood up, grinning and giggling like nothing at all had happened, and the world restarted. He raced down the stairs, picked her up, and searched her over for any sign of the wound that had caused all the blood stains on her pretty blue summer dress. There were none. She was fine. She was fine and he started crying anyways, while she just stared at him in complete confusion.

They were supposed to be going to the park, but he turned around and carried her back to the apartment in shaking arms. He didn't put her down again until the bathtub was full, and then he sat on the counter while she splashed happily in the warm water that was slowly turning pink as blood washed off of her, and stared at the blood stained blue dress. He could have put stain remover on it, or even just wished away the stains, but instead he threw it in the trash.

When she was clean and had once again been confirmed to have no injuries Billy shooed her out of the bathroom, just before bending over the toilet and emptying his stomach of what felt like everything he'd eaten in the past few months. After that, he didn't let her out of his sight once that day. Not even when Teddy came home and offered to take her off his hands while he made dinner.

SarahJane sat on the counter while he made dinner instead, safely within his reach and always under his watchful eye. He fell asleep with her on the couch rather than let her out of his sight again.

It took Teddy a month and a half to convince him to let her walk up or down stairs by herself again, and even then he was always within reach to catch her if she slipped even the tiniest bit.


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you homicidal?" Teddy asked blandly, raising an eyebrow at his boyfriend, who was rushing around the room looking for…Teddy wasn't really sure what he was looking for. A sock, maybe, because he was only wearing one. The only answer he got for that question was a glare, and a shoe thrown at his head. "I mean, couldn't we just drop her off at your parents' or something?"

"They're out of town," Billy reminded him impatiently.

"Brothers?" Teddy asked, pulling on the shoe that had been tossed at him.

"She's never even _met_ either of them."

Teddy rolled his eyes, "Always with the logic, ruining my plans."

"It's my job." There was a crash, and both men were on their feet and bolting out of the room still half dressed. "And all the other Avengers are going on the mission with us so, you see, Tommy's the only option." Billy swept SarahJane off the floor, out of the middle of a wreck of building blocks that had caused the noise, while Teddy pulled on his other shoe, zipped up his vest, and dug Billy's cape out from under a pile of clean laundry.

The doorbell rang just as Teddy had opened his mouth to speak-or protest-again, and moments later there was a blur rushing into their living room, stopping just in front of Billy. SarahJane giggled, reaching out towards the white-haired man excitedly, always amused by the display of his powers. Allowing for his broken arm, Tommy snatched her from Billy and spun her in a circle until they were both laughing.

"There's leftover pizza in the kitchen, you know where everything is, _please_ don't blow anything up and just _keep her amused._ God knows when we'll be back bye!" Billy was talking almost as fast as Tommy did when he was excited but trying to slow himself down, and had Teddy by the upper arm and into the entryway before even the speedster could say much.

"If she gets hurt I'll-" Teddy started to growl, before they were gone in a burst of blue light.

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"Oh my god," Billy muttered, well after they appeared in a meeting room full of other Avengers. "We've left our daughter in the hands of a maniac." Standing beside him, Teddy suddenly went from frowning back at the house to grinning. "_What_ now?"

"That's the first time you've called her your daughter." Billy's eyes widened slightly, and Teddy's grin only grew.

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Billy and Teddy returned to a peaceful apartment. At least, that's what it looked like from the entryway. The building was still standing. There were no debris littering the floor from explosions. Billy took a deep breath, and it didn't smell like smoke. Like slightly burnt pizza, but not smoke.

"Tommy?" Billy called out tentatively, breaking the suspicious silence. No answer. "SarahJane?" No answer.

"I bet they're at the emergency room or something," Teddy grumbled. He coughed, and dirt and powdered concrete rained from his shoulders.

"She can heal," Billy reminded him. It was a talent they were both still infinitely glad for after the stairs accident.

"I'm sure he could find a way to break that, too."

"Shut up." Billy threw his balled up cape at his boyfriend, and started searching the unnervingly silent apartment.

The kitchen was empty, except for the remains of five slices of pizza and a spilled bottle of soda. The living room appeared empty at first glance. Just as he was about to turn away, slightly worried now, light snoring caught Billy's ears. He paused, looking around again. The noise was coming from…behind the chair in the corner?

As he got closer, Billy spotted a blanket draped across the back of the chair, trailing down to make a sort of fort in the cramped corner. Upon gently removing the blanket, he spotted who he had been looking for. It took all of his control not to burst out laughing.

Tommy was curled up, jammed into the corner, with SarahJane in his lap, looking thoroughly exhausted. SarahJane looked up at him with big eyes, holding a finger to her lips and mouthing something that might have been 'Uncle Tommy's sleeping', or completely meaningless babble. There was a pink marker in her hand.

"Teddy, find a camera," he called softly.


	6. Chapter 6

After explain to Kate for the third time that designer anything was probably not a good gift choice for a three year old, Teddy finally closed the door after the last guest. With a sigh, he let his forehead rest against the cool wood. _Thank god_ they were all finally gone. Not that he didn't love his friends, but the impromptu birthday party they'd decided to throw for SarahJane had been a bit…stressful.

Teddy and Billy had been planning for a quiet day. A trip for icecream, the park, then shopping to let SarahJane pick out her own present. And then the apartment had been invaded by hordes of well meaning honorary aunts and uncles, and that plan had gone to hell pretty quickly.

SarahJane had loved it, of course. She loved anything that involved her extended 'family', which was rather large and included most of the Avengers and most prominently the former Young Avengers. She especially loved it when it involved large amounts of cake and presents. Not that she'd wanted anything to do with the presents. Oh no, shredding the wrapping paper had held far more amusement for at least half an hour, and that mess was still waiting to be cleaned up.

As was the mess that was the kitchen after Tommy had blown up the cake, but Teddy thought he'd leave that one to Billy's powers. And, hopefully, all of the cleaning could wait for the morning. The clock chimed eleven as he returned to the disaster zone that was the living room. The sight that greeted him was one he'd hoped to never see.

SarahJane was sitting on the floor giggling. There was a Barbie in her hand. This day? Had officially become his personal hell.


End file.
